From brand new albums to blockbuster movies, Ariana Grande has a big year ahead of her.
The pop superstar is taking 2024 by storm, already making the rounds to promote the upcoming release of the highly-anticipated mega-musical event, Wicked: Part One, which will hit theaters this Nov. 27th. She’ll star as Glinda beside a star-studded cast including Cynthia Erivo, Michelle Yeoh, Jeff Goldblum, Jonathan Bailey, and Ethan Slater—just to name a few.
On top of that, Ariana has also been preparing to release a new album, Eternal Sunshine, which is her first new album in almost four years, her last being 2020’s Positions. The album is slated to release on March 8, and fans got their first single—“Yes, And?”—back on January 12.
However, if you’re a mega-fan of Ariana, you might have heard her new music in a different context. You see, music rumored to be from Ariana’s upcoming album leaked online last year on platforms like TikTok, with fans left to speculate whether or not the leaked tracks were real.
Well, it looks like we just received our answer as, earlier this week, Ariana opened up about her music being stolen and leaked while appearing on Zach Sang Show podcast, with the clip of her discussing the leak quickly going viral on X and TikTok:
“Before I left for Wicked, the few studio sessions I did—which are all over TikTok, thank you so much. I’ll see you in jail. Literally,” the star said.
“They’re all real leaks?” The host asked in disbelief to confirm, to which she replied, “Yeah, they’re real.”
“The thing is, those were all written for a TV show. For something that was not for me,” Ariana went on, before interrupting herself in annoyance at the whole situation. “So [when the song] ‘Fantasize’ comes out—’comes out,’ crazy, [it was] stolen!—thieves! Pirates! Crooks! Illegal! I’ll pay you more to get it back.”
The host laughed, then asked for further clarification on why she didn’t want the stolen music released yet, to which she clarified, “That wasn’t my song. That wasn’t for me—it was like a parody of a 90’s girl group vibe—but they loved it. [The fans] loved it so much! And I was like, A: all of you are absolutely hypocrites, and B: that’s crazy! It’s so corny! But it’s okay. I took the note and I kind of gave them Ariana’s version of that on the album. I would say that exists.”
The singer then finished by sharing that, while the leaked music itself isn’t on the album, some small ideas from it are, saying, “Some of those seedling ideas from that time actually made their way onto the album, which is really exciting, but they’re completely different now. So, although you’ve heard them—because you stole them, again—they’re very different now.”
Naturally, fans of Ariana were quick to find the humor in the singer’s interview, with users taking to X to share their thoughts:
So, there you have it! To find out how much of the leaked music truly made it onto the album, be sure to check out Eternal Sunshine when it releases on March 8th.